W. Lax Stumbles at Yale, No. 1 Maryland

Deja vu can be painful, just ask any member of the Harvard women's lacrosse team.

The Crimson (3-2, 1-1 Ivy) dropped a lopsided 21-8 decision to No.1 Maryland (9-1, 2-1 ACC) before falling to No.10 Yale (6-1, 2-1 Ivy) in a 7-6 come-from-behind win for the Bulldogs.

In an unfortunate turn of events, both spring break contests bore eerie resemblance to similar losses for the Crimson last year.

In a disappointing 5-9 campaign last season, Harvard allowed Yale to storm back from a halftime deficit to steal a 10-9 victory.

Similar events transpired yesterday when the Bulldogs overcame another halftime deficit to hold on again for a narrow one-goal win and their sixth consecutive victory over the Crimson.

Against defending national champion Maryland, Harvard was hoping to improve upon an embarrassing 21-3 defeat the Crimson suffered in Cambridge a year ago.

On the strength of four goals late in the second half, the Crimson attack found the back of the mesh eight times, but in a repeat performance of last season, the Maryland offense didn't skip a beat, knotting 21 goals in another offensive explosion.

Yale 7, Harvard 6

It started promisingly.

But it ended tragically.

After a solid first half, Harvard held a slim 4-3 lead at the midpoint of the match.

A one-goal cushion heading into halftime proved to be one too few as Yale responded with four goals of its own to capture a 7-6 victory.

Junior Kate Flatley pocketed the game-winning goal for the Bulldogs off an assist from senior Heather Bentley.

Junior co-captain Alli Harper and junior Lauren Corkery paced the Crimson attack with two goals apiece. Corkery also added an assist.

The tandem of Harper and Corkery remained hot over spring break and continue to lead the Crimson in scoring

Corkery topped all Crimson scorers in the two-game swing with three goals and two assists, and paces Harvard scorers with 10 goals on the season.

Right behind her is Harper with eight goals and sophomore Lizzy Frisbie with five.

Freshman Leslie Moroz and Gretchen Puttkamer each added goals in a losing cause.

And freshman Jamie Hagerman, who joined the team over spring break after spending the winter as a defenseman on the Harvard women's hockey team, added a pair of assists with sophomore Erin Kutner, who rounded out the scoring with a single assist.

Maryland 21, Harvard 8

Surprises came in small packages for the Crimson when it traveled to College Park, Md., last Thursday.

Thanks to a goal from freshman Katie Shaughnessy, Harvard jumped out to a surprising 1-0 lead just 1:06 into the game.

Not surprisingly, the Terps responded with a vengeance, scoring the next nine goals to take a 10-3 lead into halftime en route to a 21-8 victory.

To its credit, Harvard never relented and continued to claw its way back against Maryland.

Down 9-1 with five minutes remaining in the opening half, Corkery and Hagerman added goals to cut the Terps' lead before halftime

Hagerman opened the scoring in the second half on a goal assisted by freshman Sara Burg to cut the lead to 10-4.

That was as close as the Crimson would get in the second half, however, as Maryland went on a 10-0 scoring run to finish off the Crimson's last hopes for victory.

Burg and junior Jennifer Lee added single goals and Shaughnessy netted a pair late in the game as the Crimson came back to outscore the Terps 4-1 in the final ten minutes of the second half.

Three freshman led the scoring for the Crimson as Shaughnessy picked up a hat trick, Hagerman added a pair of goals with an assist, and Burg tallied three assists and a goal.

Harvard's next game is this Wednesday at home against Boston University.